<Begin Segment 33>

AI: But on a daily basis, then, what was the condition for you and your little family now that you were here at this main family home?

MK: Well, the earlier part of the war it was okay because Grandma was all by herself. This is actually a step-grandmother, but she's the one who raised my father so they were very close. My father, being the youngest boy, you know how the youngest ones are always favored. So they got along real well. And though she was an okusan,landowner, she went through the process of making takuan, umeboshi, and all these Japanese misos and things to prepare for the rest of the year. It was very interesting to observe. It was an education for me. I didn't really help, help her. But with memory, she didn't have a recipe card, but with memory she made all these things in preparation for the future, the year ahead of them. (Food preparation was observed in 1938.)

AI: Well, and in fact, that you were there for the New Year's of 1944 and also, you would have been turning sixteen then.

MK: Okay, by then my father had to make arrangements for himself, because when Kobe was bombed, the first son's home, the mansion that he had built was (...) totally burned. So he had to evacuate back to the honke. And my honke uncle and my father never got along. My father knew his place, so that was the time he was given his, his portion of his inheritance. (...) About two-and-a half acres, (...) it fed the family (...) for about ten months, not quite a year, I remember. (...) We did the calculation on it. It was only about two-and-a half acres, but anyway, land is very precious, so we were lucky that we even had that.

AI: Right, as the sixth son --

MK: Right, right.

AI: -- as the youngest son, oftentimes there is nothing left for the younger son.

MK: Right, right. But at that time, of course, we didn't have any pots and pans, so...

AI: Did you actually move out of the main home?

MK: After my father -- well...

AI: Tell me what happened.

MK: Clever father. (...) My father, though he was not feeling well, he went up the hill, mountains and found a deserted shack. And piece by piece, the Japanese buildings are, you can take it apart because they're not nailed on. So he took it apart. I think he had some help, but he took it apart and put it on a hor-, cart, that it wasn't a horse, it was a, a ox, oxen, and then brought it down. And he traded the things, the American things that we had like the suitcase, or whatever, with the owner of the shack, deserted shack. Of course, he added other things and then built this, this house for ourselves. It was, certainly was not a house to brag about, but it was a house, a decent house and we went through the Shinto shrine (blessings), when we reached the different stages of the building. And it was a livable house. And so it was built on that two-and-a half acres.

AI: Wow.

MK: And our water came from the well in those areas, all of them. We didn't have running toilets or anything. So, Bob and Richard were all doing the honey bucket thing. You're aware of those. So, they had their chores. And, of course by this time, we had no maids. The previous time we had two maids, you know, catering to us. But this time we were on our own and, I don't know where my father found the money to buy the other building material, I really don't know. But he's very creative in finding ways. So --

AI: So somehow he managed to --

MK: He managed to build a livable house, uh-huh.

AI: And on this two-and-a half acres, what were you growing, and how --

MK: Oh, some rice, and vegetables, green vegetables. But the honke side, the main proper, proper land that was next to the house, I remember Grandmother used to, brag, should I say, "Well, we have eighty-eight persimmon trees." See, persimmon is such a precious fruit for them. Well, they had about five different kinds of persimmon. You'd eat it or prepare it in different ways. So, this is what she, I don't know whether she marketed them or not, but anyway, between the trees she would have her vegetable gardens. But she had a handyman, that's right; she had a handyman that helped her with some of that. But it was only a house away, so we went back and forth to Grandma's house.

AI: So in other words, just a, maybe a kind of a field and some of the trees and the vegetables were growing in between the main house and your house.

MK: Right, right, because it was part of the land that the honke owned that my father got.

<End Segment 33> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.